Torque device



June 5, 1928. 1,672,616

A. L. LAMBERT TORQUE DEVICE Filed Nov. 27, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Tofi UE DEVICE A. L. LAMBERT Filed Nov. 27, 1925 June 5, 1928.

ATTORN EY Patented June 5, 1928.

. UNITED, STATES;

PIATENTFOFFICEQ ALBERT L. LAMBERT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR' TO HEINTZ MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF 'IION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

Applicatiomfiled November formed to fit properly and accurately in the doorway or other opening in which the struc-.

ture is intended to fit.

In building automobile bodies it is quite usual to build the door complete as a separate unit and then to mount the door on the completed body. It very often happens, especially when the-door and the body are of metal, thatdue to the stamping operations employed in shaping the metal members, and to the resiliency of the metal, and to unavoidable manufacturing variations, and possiblyfrom other causes, the shapes and alignments of the door and the members forming the doorway arenot as intended. and it is found that when the door is applied. to the body it does not properly fit into its doorway. In; such structures a misfit of this character iseXtremely objectionable and has been; extremely ,diflicult, if not impossible, tov remedy heretofore.

The principal object of my invention is to provide means whereby a preformed door or similar structure may be adjusted into such shape and alignment doorway properly and accurately, and to provide means forholding'the door or simiI-. lar structure n such adpisted shape or al1gn v ment. Another object of my invention is to provide a door or similar structure which,

after being constructed complete, is adjustable in shapev and alignment, and may be conformed without reconstruction to fit properly and accurately, the doorway in which it is intended to fit. A further object of this invention is to provide simple and readily operable means above mentioned adjustment of the shape or alignment in a manufactured door or similar structure. 'Other objects of this invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

In accordance wlth my invention, I attach each end of a tube to opposite frame members of a door, or sim lar structure, and associate a torque device w th this tube in such a way that when the torque device is tensioned it tendsto rotate one end of the my invention may that it will fit its 'of the torque device and an for eifecting thej TORQUE DEVICE.

I provide accessible means for tensioning PHILADELPHIA,' PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORA;

the torque device to establish sufiicient torsional strains to place the door frame members into the desired alignment with respect to each other. 1

means that the torque device and frame members will be maintained inthe adjusted positions until further adjustment is made. Accordingly, it will be apparent that the door before or after mounted in place may be adjusted in shape and in alignment to'fit properly and accurately in its doorway. Even when the frame members of the doorway are out of align.- ment with each other the door may be adjusted to fit the doorway-of the. shape pre- I any case avoiding the neges' sented, thus in sity of bringing the doorway frame members into a certain alignment during manufac ture. I i I In orderthat a clearer understanding of by directed to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and illustrating onev possible embodiment of my invention. Referringto the drawings,'Fig. 1 is a front view of a door structure having my invention embodied therein,- a fragment of the outer portion of the door being broken I away; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional'view of the torque device and associated parts at the center of the door, the view being taken on the line 22 ofFig. 3 Fig. 3 is an end view attachment plate. and is taken on the lines 33 of Figs. 1 and fl; Figs. 4. .5 and 6 are cross sectional views through different portions of the torque device and-are'taken respectively on the lines .4-4, 5-5, and 6 -6 of Fig. 2;-

Fig.,7 is a sectional. view of one of the elements ofthe torque device; and Fig. .8 is an enlarged sectional view of a fragment of anotherelement of the "torque device, showing the .shape of theteeth on thesurface of this element. Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, to illustrate the invention there is shown a structure in I so arrange said adjusting being completed andv be had, attention is herethe form of a door, comprising side frame members 1 and 2 which extend the full height of the door and are joined together by a top panel strip 3 and a lower panel 4. At about the middle of the door a metal strip 5' is secured to the inside of frame member 1 and a similar strip6 is secured to the .inside of frame member 2. A stiffening and reenforcing tube 7 extends between plates 5 and 6 and its ends are firmly secured thereto as by welding. A sleeve 8 is firmly fixed, as by welding, within this tube, near one end thereof and. in this sleeve is firmly secured, also by welding if desired, one end. of a rod 9, of torsional material, preferably metal for strength. Toward its other end this rod 9 is cut off square on two sides, as at 10, and the remaining curved surfaces are threaded as at 1.1 to receive a nut 12. This nut has an end flange 13 which seats rotatably withina recess in a sleeve 14, the end of the sleeve being turned over the flange 13, as at 15, so that sleeve 14 moves with nut 12 back and forth along rod 9 as the nut is turned thereon. Sleeve 14 has a center perforation which is squared to correspond with the squared cross-section of rod 9 so that rod 9 and sleeve 14 must turn together. The outside of sleeve 14 is provided with helical threads 16 which con stantly engage with similar threads 17 formed on the inner surface of tube 7. Thus one end of rod 9 is rigidly connected with one end of tube 7 and door frame 1 through sleeve 8 and plate 5, and the other end of rod 9 is connected with tube? and the door frame 2 only through movable sleeve 14. Now, sleeve 14 cannot turn on rod but can be moved. therealong by the turning of nut 12. On any such movement of sleeve 14 the engagement between threads 16 and 17 on sleeve 14 and tube 7 tends to cause the engaged portions of these memhere to rotate in opposite directions transversely. of the axis of rod .9. At their other ends tube 7 and rod9 are anchored together by sleeve 8 and here the oppositely directed torsional strains cannot move rod 9 and tube 7 relative to each other, with the result that whenever nut 12 is adjusted the relatively movable ends of tube 7 and rod 9 are rotated in opposite directions and frame member 2 is rotated with res 'iect to frame member 1. Obviously thc'relative amount of rotation of the free end of rod 9 and frame member 2 will depend upon the rela tive torsional resistances of the parts. The amount of combined rotation for a given amount of advance of sleeve 14 on rod 9 (or per turn of nut 12) will depend upon the pitch of tl'ireads l6 and 17. i

From the above it will be apparent that a. structure having the above invention and device embodied therein may readily and easily be adjusted in shape and in alignment of its parts, and such adjustment may be made either before or after the structure has been completed, and even after the structure, such as a. door, has been paneled and mounted in place at its doorway. If the door upon completion is found to be out of the desired alignment it may be brought into alignment. If the doorwayis out of proper alignment, the door may be brought into the same alignment so as to fit properly and accurately into the distorted doorway. The structure will retain any adjustment into which it has been placed by theadjustment of nut 12 on rod 9.

In. the embodiment shown, if nut 12 is turned clockwise on rod 9, referring toFig. 3, to advance sleeve 14 thereon, the free end of rod 9 will be turned clockwise and the engaged end of tube 7 and frame member 2 will. be rotated counterclockwise, while frame member 1 will be sat-ionary. On re verse movement of 'nut12 the said rotational movements will be reversed, member 1 remaining stationary. i

The nut 12 is accessible by means of a socket wrench, or other tool, through a hole 18' passing throughframe member 2 and re enforcing plate 6. i i

The tube 7 not only cooperates with the torque device to permit adjustment of the doorbut also serves as a very effective reenforcement thereto, and effectively resists undesired distortion of the door by the usual torsional strains to which a je'cted in normal usage. not onlyserve as convenient means for attaching the tube 7 firmly and rigidlyto the door frame members but also stiffen and reenforce the structure. It will be noticed that the structure may be built exceedingly light in weight and of few parts while at the same time is extremely sturdy and rigid door is sub-; The plates 5 and 6 as well as being adjustable in shape or,

alignmentat will by a pie operation. 1 v a As many changes could be made in the above construction and as many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departingfrom the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained. in the above description or shown. in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. i

WVhat I claim is 1. A torque dovice'of the character described, including, in combination, two torsionable members in parallel alignment with each other, said members being rigidly con nected at one point, andmeans, connecting said members, whereby at another point one of said members may be rotated with respect to the other member.

2. A torque device of the character are scribed, including, in combination, two tor convenient and simmembers, whereby at another point sai sionable rods in parallel alignment with each' other, said members being rigidly connected at one point, and means, connecting said members, whereby at another point one' of said members may be rotated with respect to the other member, and automatically held in rotated position. I

3. A torque device of the character described, including, in combination, two torsionable members one disposed within the other, said members being rigidly connected at onepoint, and means, connecting said members may be rotated in opposite directions;

4. A torque device of the character described, including, in combination, two torsionable members in parallel alignment one disposed within the other, said members be.- ing rigidly connected at one point, means, connecting said members, whereby at-another point said members may be rotated in opposite directions, and means for locking said members in the rotated positions.

5. A torque device of the character described, including, in combination, two torsionable members in parallel alignmentwith each other, said members being non-rotationally connected at one point, and means, connecting said members, whereby at another point said mei bers may be rotated in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to both said members and so engaging said members that when said coupling is moved axially said members are twisted thereby axially in opposite directions.

6. A torque device of the character de- U I scribed, includmg,.1n combination, two tor-- sionable membersin parallel alignment with each other, said members being'non-rotationally connected at one point, and means, connecting said members, whereby at another point said members may be rotated in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially: with respect to both said members and so engagingsai members that when said coupling is moved axially said members are twisted thereby axially in opposite directions, said coupling having a threadedengagement with one of said members.

7. A torque device of the character described, including, in combination, two tor sionable members in parallel alignment with each other, said. members being nonrotationally connected at one point, and means, connecting said members, whereby at another point said members may be rotated in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to both said members and so engaging said members that when said coupling is moved axially said membersare twisted thereby axially in opposite directions, said coupling said rod and tube, engaging said rod and tube,

having a threaded engagement with oneflof" (1 said tube and rigidly connected thereto at.v

one point, and means connecting said rod and tube at another point whereby'said rod and tube may be twisted simultaneously in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to said rod and tube, engaging said rod for rotation therewith and in threaded engage mentwith said tube for relative rotational.

movement with respect thereto."

10; In a torque device of the character described, in combination, a tube, a rod within said tube and rigidly connected thereto at one point, means connecting said rod and tube atanother point whereby said rod and tube may be twistedsimultaneously in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to said rod for rotation therewith and in threaded engageand means movement with respect thereto,

of said in said tube and rigidly .connected thereto at one point, and means connecting said rod and tube at another point whereby said rod and tube may be twisted simultaneously in' ment with said tube for relative rotational opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to said rod and tube, engaging said rodfor rotation therewith and'inthreaded engagement with d said tube for relative rotational movement with respect thereto, saidrod having a threaded portion, and a nut on said threaded portion engaging said coupling, whereby said coupling maybeadjusted and held in adjusted position axially of the tube and rod.

12. In a torque device of the character described,'incombination, a tube, a rod within said tube and rigidly connected-thereto I at one point, and means connecting 'said rod and tube at another point whereby said rod and tube may be twisted simultaneously in opposite directions, said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to rotation therewith and in threaded engagement with said tube for relative rotational movement with respect thereto, said rod havengaging said rod for ing a threaded portion, and a nut on said threaded portion engaging" said coupling and rod, said rod having asquared portion and said COUl'JllIlQ' havinga perforation of complementary shape through Which said rod extends. i

13. lin a torque device of the character described, in combination, tube, a rod With-- in said tube and rigidly connected thereto at one point, and means connecting said rod and tube at another point whereby said rod and tube may be twisted simultaneously in opposite directions; said means including a coupling movable axially with respect to said 'rod and tube, engaging said rod for rotation therewith and in threaded engage ment with said tube for relative rotational movement with respect thereto, said rod having a threaded portion, and a nut on said threaded portion engaging said couplin whereby said couplinginay be adjusted'and held in adjusted position axially of the tube and rod, said rod having a squared. portion anC said coupling having apertoration of complementary shape throughavhichsaid rod extends, said tube having an interior threaded portion, and said coupling having threads engaging said tube threads.

14-.The combination With a pairot opposed frame members having a reenforcing tube extending tllGIGbGt-WGQH and rigidly connected thereto at its ends, of a torque rod within said tube and rigidly secured to said tube adjacent one end thereof, and means connecting said rod and tube at the other end for simultaneously twisting said tube and rod in opposite directions, whereby the alignment of said'frame members may be varied. s

This specification signed this '23 day of November, 1925.

ALBERT L. LAMBERTQ 

